That October Night
by Lipton Lee
Summary: PWP. Lit fluffyness. A very very late nightearly morning in October.


A/N: This was supposed to be a Halloween fic. Yeah, it's not. Sorry. It just... isn't.

Timeline: Future... uhm... at some point. There's really no timeline here.

Spoilers: Nothing that I can think of.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Don't sue!

Rating: PG-13

Summary: PWP. Lit fluff ficlet..

**That October Night **

Four o'clock Saturday morning and he still hadn't shown up.

Rory Gilmore didn't know whether to be pissed off or worried, and it wasn't doing her tired mind any good.

She sat on the front steps of her mother's house, wearing her black, white and red ladybug pajamas; eyes fixed on the road ahead of her and a large mug of coffee in her hands.

Her mother and Luke had long before gone to Luke's apartment for the night, as to give them privacy, but it was four in the morning and his car was nowhere in sight.

He'd always had the nasty habit of being late, but never this late.

She sighed. He wasn't coming.

Same old Jess. Promise; swear up and down that he'll be there, and then disappear for god knew how long.

"You never change, Dodger," she muttered sleepily. With a labored heave, she got to her feet, warming her hands with the quickly cooling mug she held between them. It was a chilly October night, two days before Halloween... and he'd promised.

But his promises were always meant to be broken. It was his way.

She trudged to the door, and reached for the knob, just as a pair of headlights shined against the house.

She rolled her eyes. "Murphey's Law," she muttered, turning around. The worn car stopped, and the lights and engine went off. He stepped out and slammed the door, and her bitter expression turned soft as she saw the tired, slightly defeated look on his face. She walked back over to the steps and waited for him to walk up.

When he reached her, he stared at his feet like a guilty pre-schooler.

"It's four in the morning," she informed him.

"I know," he muttered, scratching the back of his head. "I'm sorry."

"You said you'd be here at six."

"I know," he repeated, still not looking at her. "I'm sorry."

"What happened?"

He sighed. "The truth or the lie?"

"Truth first, then lie," Rory replied.

"We had a Halloween party at the office," Jess explained. "My editor had a little too much to drink and landed himself in the hospital. The whole staff wound up in the waiting room for hours. I didn't get out of the city until one in the morning."

Rory frowned. "Is your editor okay?"

Jess nodded. "The doctor said he'd be fine."

"Good," Rory nodded. "So, what's my lie?"

"Goblins attacked me in the parking lot, kidnapped me, and used my blood to open a portal into another dimension from which they released the dregs of hell upon the world. I, naturally, had to break free, kill them all, and single-handedly close said portal."

She downed the last of her coffee, and then threw her arms around him. "My hero!"

"Damn right."

They stumbled tiredly into the dark house, and Rory flipped on the lights. "Where's your stuff?"

"In the car," he replied with a yawn. "I'll get it in the morning. I want sleep."

She nodded in agreement as they made their way to her old bedroom. "Sleep good."

"It's amazing how inarticulate we are at four in the morning," Jess commented.

"You think we're bad? My mother just grunts."

"She probably picked it up from Luke," Jess commented. "That's all he does, anyways."

"Like you're one to talk," Rory muttered, and she crawled onto the old bed.

He sighed and stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. "I guess I'll go crash on the couch."

"You're crazy," Rory commented. "Get over here."

He sighed and fell onto the bed, face first with a moan.

Rory smiled and kissed the back of his head. "Sit up and get ready for bed."

"Can I sleep naked?" he asked, his voice muffled by the comforter his face was buried in.

"No. It's too cold."

He looked up at her slyly. "We can keep each other warm."

"You kept me waiting for almost ten hours," Rory grinned. "There is no way in hell that you're getting any tonight."

Jess let out a slow sigh and sat up. He took his shoes and socks off, and then unbuttoned and slid off his dress shirt, leaving him in a white undershirt.

She crawled to sit behind him as he unbuckled his belt and then worked at taking off his slacks. She kissed his neck tenderly and then rested her head on his shoulder.

"You know, you're not acting like a woman scorned."

"Too tired to be mad."

"Good, can we have sex now?"

"Too tired for that, too."

"Spoken like a true woman."

And then she bit his neck roughly, and he yelped and jerked away.

"Evil."

Rory grinned. "That's what you get."

"I can't believe you're so tired that you had to resort to physical violence."

"It's four in the morning!"

"It's sad is what it is."

"I'll bite you again."

Jess grinned. "Promise?"

She gave him a bitter look, and then flopped down onto the bed, facing away from him.

He kicked his pants off with a sigh and then slowly laid himself down, closing his eyes.

She glanced at him from her spot against her pillow. He was lying with his legs bent over the side of the bed, and his torso and head resting on the mattress.

"Stop staring at me," he muttered.

"I'm not staring," he retorted, looking to her door. "I don't wanna look at you."

Jess opened one eye and smirked lazily. "Then why were you looking?"

"Wasn't."

"Liar."

"How do you know I was looking?" Rory snapped. "Your eyes are closed."

"How'd you know my eyes were closed if you weren't looking?"

Her head whipped to him and she glared. "Hate you."

"Yet here I am, half asleep on your bed."

"Go out to the couch."

He nodded and sat up slowly, scratching a hand through his hair. "Fine." With that he got up and left the room.

Rory sat on her bed, looking grumpy. She was waiting for him to come back.

She waited...

And waited...

She waited a whole two hours, but he stayed out in the living room.

Finally, she got annoyed enough to bound out to the couch to find him dozing there. "Hey. You."

He grunted, his voice scratchy.

"Why didn't you come back?"

"You tol' me to go out here," he slurred, cracking an eye open.

"I didn't mean it."

"You sounded like you meant it."

"Well... I didn't..."

"Damn, fool, crazy woman," he muttered, shutting his eye and turning over. "I's six in the morning. I'm tired. You're either carrying me back to bed or your climbing in here with me, cause I'm not moving on my own."

She scrunched up her face. "There's not enough room for both of us," she told him.

"So sleep on top of me," Jess groaned. "But go to sleep."

"I'm not tired anymore," Rory told him.

He turned over again and squinted up at her. "You freak."

She plopped down and sat on his legs, grabbing the TV remote. "Let's watch a movie."

"Oh, my god."

"How about Willy Wonka?"

"Oh, my god...what did I do to deserve this?"

Rory wrinkled her nose at him. "I waited out in the cold for you for nearly ten hours. I read three books, drank nine cups of coffee, and couldn't even take a nap on the porch."

"Hey," he snapped tiredly. "I was fighting off the dregs of hell, remember?"

"Excuses, excuses. You couldn't call?"

"Cell phone ran out of batteries," Jess muttered. "Didn't have any change for a payphone." His voice trailed off a little and she heard him breath deeply.

She glanced at him, and smiled a little. It was good to finally see him again. Putting down the remote, she crawled over him to nestle in the space between his body and couch.

He sighed and wrapped an arm around her.

"How's your mom?"

"Alive, last I checked," Jess muttered. "How's yours?"

"Fine. She and Luke are at his place tonight."

"And I am officially never setting foot in that apartment again," he replied.

Rory smirked. "Why?"

"Because Luke had sex in it."

"Luke had sex in it before you ever lived there," she reminded him.

"Not in my delusional little head."

Rory snickered. "You guys have never talked about your sex lives?"

He opened his eyes fairly wide. "No. Of course not."

"My mom and I do, sometimes," Rory shrugged.

"Your mother isn't Luke."

"It'd be funny if he was, though," Rory snickered.

"We wouldn't be in this relationship if he were," Jess pointed out. "We'd be cousins. As it is, we're merely step-cousins."

"Do me a favor?"

"Hmm?"

"One," Rory started. "Don't ever mention the step-cousin thing again. I don't wanna think about that. And two: call Luke 'mommy' next time you see him?"

"Done, and done."

She smiled. "Good Jess."

"Woof," he replied, giving out a yawn, which made her yawn in turn.

She pouted. "You made me yawn."

He didn't reply.

She pouted more. "You fell asleep?"

He still stayed silent.

"Don't sleep and leave me awake," she pleaded. "It's not nice. We were supposed to spend the whole evening together. I kicked mom out of the house... and your sleeping."

"It's six-thirty in the morning, Rory," Jess grumbled, burying his head into her shoulder. "I'll make it up to you."

"How?"

His eyes opened a little. "I will cook you anything you want when the sun comes up."

"Promise?"

"Swear."

She smiled and leaned in to give him a long, soft kiss, which he reciprocated hungrily.

She pulled away and snickered. "You're half asleep and you can still kiss like you've had a full eight-hours of rest."

"This is the first time we've kissed all night," Jess pointed out.

Rory frowned. "You're right. We haven't seen each other in two weeks. That was our first kiss in two weeks. And it's six in the morning."

"Six-thirty."

"I should have kissed you when you showed up."

"You were mad at me."

"A little," she admitted. "Was the kiss good?"

He nodded with a grin. "Always."

"Flatterer."

"Where will it get me?"

Rory stopped to think about this.

"Sex?"

"Nope."

He sighed heavily.

She laughed a little. "What is it with you and sex tonight?"

He responded by nuzzling his face into her chest. "It's been two weeks. Two whole weeks; I'm not allowed to miss you?"

Rory sighed and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "Long distance relationships suck."

"Move to New York."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

She kissed his forehead. "No. Move back to Stars Hollow."

"Only in my worst nightmares."

She pulled away from him a little to look at him. "Is it really that bad?"

He sighed heavily and turned his eyes to the ceiling. "We've been through this."

"I commute to work. Why can't you?"

He didn't reply, merely kept his gaze to the ceiling.

"Jess... come on." Rory sat up and got into his line of sight.

"I've changed a lot, Rory," he said quietly, rubbing his eye a little. "I feel like moving here again would change me back."

She gave him a quizzical look. "Back to what?"

He rolled over to face away from her. "The guy who screwed up everything," he muttered. "Go to sleep. I'll make food in the morning."

"You really think that?"

She got no reply.

"We were seventeen," she pointed out. "Things are so different now. We're both so much better."

"I don't want that to change," Jess told her. "I like things the way they are right now."

"So do I," Rory nodded. "But things could be better. We could live together, and you could cook for me all the time, and I could do your laundry. We wouldn't have to run up our long-distance bills saying goodnight to each other; we could go and buy the best couch ever and fall asleep on it all the time. We wouldn't go crazy missing each other because it's been two weeks, and wind up organizing our wardrobes by color, and when we finally do see each other, we don't even kiss each other right off the bat. We wouldn't go-"

He turned to her, giving her an odd look. "Organizing our wardrobes by color?"

"And there goes my heartfelt speech."

Jess sat up a little and stared at her. "You're serious about my moving back here."

She nodded.

He sighed. "We'll talk more about it after sleep."

Her eyes lit up. "We will?"

He nodded and lay back down.

She cuddled up into him, and kissed his jaw. "G'night."

"Good morning," he muttered.

END


End file.
